The housing crisis has been a curse on successive Iraqi governments, and the problem lasts despite attempts by some governments to find patch-up solutions. For example, the solution of the government of Saddam Hussein was to distribute land to the needy, thus leading to Baghdad expanding without appropriate urban planning. As Harith Hasan reported for Al-Monitor last month, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has made acceleration of public housing development and distribution of land a bedrock of his campaign promises, blaming others for the current crisis. Maliki's government distributed 150-square-meter (1,614-square-foot) plots of land to those who had trouble finding housing, however this has been done with no urban planning or in-depth study of the crisis — which is getting worse as Iraq’s population increases.

After the US forces occupied Baghdad in 2003, there has been an increased need for housing. Amid an absence of the state, families started building slum housing on agricultural land or land owned by the state, and this kind of housing now has its own market in Iraq.

On the eastern edge of Baghdad, in the industrial area, Abu Ahmed built a small house for his seven-member family because he could not continue paying rent. He bought a plot of land with $10,000 and built a structure on it for about the same amount, but the area has no sewage system and no potable water. Thus, residents of this area are compelled to buy water from mobile tankers. There are many insects in the area and sewage collects in a pond close to the house and does not get drained by the municipalities. Al-Monitor met Abu Ahmed, who said that he is happy since he does not have to pay rent.

There are many other citizens like Abu Ahmed. The slums of Baghdad constitute about 33% of all the slums in Iraq, and Baghdad’s slums house about 2.5 million people.